5.11.2011

What's Healthier?

Shape had a great article in their February 2011 issue. It was called What's Healthier?

Basically, we all know that food is not created equal, so they paired some common items together and picked the better of the two.

Glazed doughnut or bagel with cream cheese:The winner is:Glazed doughnut. A medium bagel has 320 calories and that's not even including the cream cheese, while the doughnut has 260 calories and 2 grams less of fat then bagel with cream cheese. If you want the bagel, then use some low fat peanut butter instead of cream cheese.

French toast or pancakes:The winner is:French ToastThey are pretty equal calorie wise, the french toast has 150 calories per slice and the pancake has about 175 calories, both 7 grams of fat, but the kicker here is that the french toast has an egg coating, which is protein, which also gives it more moisture, which means you probably won't add the extra 100 calories of syrup either.

Nuts or dried fruitThe winner is:NutsThey are higher in calories and fat, but nuts are packed with vitamin E, fiber and protein. Most of the fat is non-saturated healthy fat.

Chicken thighs or pork chopsThe winner is:Pork ChopWhile chicken would seem to be the answer here, only chicken breast is the leanest meat. If you eat a lean cut of pork like a loin for a 3 ounce serving is 100 calories, while a 3 ounce chicken thigh is about 177 calories.

Soft pretzel or hot dogThe winner is:Soft pretzelWhile they are both equal in calories, the hot dog has 21 grams of fat and 1,000 MORE milligrams of sodium. The pretzel has 4 grams of fat and 557 milligrams of sodium.